Welcome to

Ting Yuen's Artist Diary

Artist Statement

I create lyrical worlds, where tribulations are perceived with inspiring humor, fetishes embraced with open arms, thoughts are symbolic, dreams are always infinite, and an ideal world is possible. In many ways, my paintings compose a diary of my everyday life and aspirations, expressing fears and joys that are personal but, at the same time, universal to the current consciousness.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

I have been working up a storm, painting my new collection for 2010. The collection is coming together very nicely, I am thrilled with the paintings and can't wait to share them with you. But first, I have to finish the collection slate for May 15th and then my husband, Paul is responsible for taking the pictures so that they are ready to be showcased !! I can't wait!!

As promised here is my Part III of: Be A full Time Artist

I believe to be a great artist, one needs skills, imagination and references. The mentioned three factors are how all my works are executed.

If you wish to become a full time artist, start practicing your creative skills. I am self taught therefore I learn from books and most importantly I learn from my trial and errors. Without a doubt the best way to improve your skills is by consistent practice and observation. Through practice I gain confidence and from there it sets me free to explore and experiment without fear.

The above left painting is called Belonging painted by myself, please click here to read the story.

I remember when my husband and I purchased our dream gallery set in the most quaint country village of Wells. I didn't have enough paintings to hang on our gallery's walls. That winter I gave myself four months to paint 30 paintings. I let go of all my inhibitions and fears and I set myself free to paint feverishly. I was astonished by how much my knowledge could carry me through and I was in awe with my confidence. One of the things that set my confidence to a different height was that I gave myself permission to destroy any of my images that I wasn't thrilled about. In the end I only threw out one canvas and ended up with 27 images and they were ready for showcasing on the opening day of our gallery!I was proud and so was my husband!

Now after 4 years I am on my 4th collection, my paintings have developed and matured over the years. They now have more finesse than ever and definitely more details.My collection became smaller but stronger. The wonderful thing about honing in on your skills is that it sets your imagination to new heights. I constantly dream up of new images for my paintings. Imagination may come naturally for some of us but others may struggle with it. I believe imagination can be trained, thinking creatively can be pursued through pushing the boundaries of your thoughts. For example, let's say I would like to paint an apple in an expressive manner, I may decide to put the apple on the table or in a bowl or on a chair, but so far I find that all these images seem predictable........so how about suspend the apple in mid air with a pair of wings...?? As you can see, from this simple practice of broadening my thoughts, the apple became not just an apple anymore, it became an interesting riddle.

The painting on the above right is called Wisdom painted by myself, please click here to read the story.

I also love to use reference pictures for my subject. Let's go back to the story of the apple, if I were to paint an apple, I may have many pictures of all different kinds of apples next to my easel, different types and different colors, these pictures not only provide me with more choices but they also assist me in getting the shape just right!

I also use an amazing recipe written by one of my favorite painters Robert Genn. This concise recipe helps me to paint efficiently and thoughtfully. I believe you will like it too. Please click here to read about it and do use it for your art work.

Before I finish off, I would like to thank you for reading my blog and for leaving me your comments. I have enjoyed reading them!

About Me

My name is Ting, I was born in Malaysia and have lived in five different countries. I am a self taught artist. I own a gallery in Nelson, B.C. with my husband Paul. We love where we live because it's very close to nature and it provides us ample of inspiration to work with and not to mention the tranquility that it provides. I started selling my art work in 1999 and since 2007 I have established myself as a full time artist and am loving it! My work is about life and dreams, very much a diary of my personal life depicted in colours and symbols. I hope to inspire people with my artwork and the stories that accompany them.